How Chhattisgarh's women voters came out in support of change

Vandana Agrawal

Raipur: As political pundits and journalists analyse the Chhattisgarh election results—where the Congress won a two-thirds majority in the Assembly—one trend becomes clear: a large group of women of the state voted against the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Polling data shows that out of the 21 constituencies where more women voted than men, Congress won 17 seats. Only two seats were won by the BJP as the other two went to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC).

Most of the big players were thrashed by the mandate including eight out of 12 state cabinet ministers, in addition to the speaker. Even though chief minister Raman Singh succeeded in saving his seat, his victory margin was nearly halved as compared to the previous election where he won by a margin of over 35,000 votes.

Out of the 90 Assembly seats, Congress won 68 seats leaving only 15 constituencies for the outgoing BJP government and the rest for other parties. Even in these 15 seats, reports suggest that BJP won only due to a division of votes by BSP-JCC coalition.

Promises on paddy, alcohol drew women

The unprecedented Congress comeback was due to a strong wave of anger against the BJP government in rural and semi-urban parts of Chhattisgarh. Farmer woes, liquor ban and unemployment among youths were some of the main agenda this election.

During his election campaign, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had promised to waive off farming loans within 10 days of forming the government, if they came to power. Additionally, the party also promised to pay Rs 2500 per quintal MSP for paddy.

This gave hope to women who do the boai (seeding), ropai (planting), katai (harvesting), and dhoai (carrying)—the main activities in paddy farming. Even the management and the preservation of seeds are usually supposed to be women’s work in Chhattisgarh. Despite this, her access to agricultural resources, technical knowledge and support services like credit, extension services and training is denied.

The other factor why women voters moved towards the Congress was the party’s support towards the prohibition of liquor in manifesto. In 2013, BJP had made a poll promise to implement liquor ban in the state. However, it failed to make any concrete decisions on the issue. This may be attributed to the fact that income from liquor jumped from Rs 32.61 crores in 2001-02 to Rs 3,347.54 crores in fiscal year 2016-17. The revenue acquired from liquor sales constantly rose from nearly Rs 1,000 crore in 2011-12, to Rs 1,400 crore in 2012-13 and rs 1,900 crore in 2013-14.

In 2017, the Chhattisgarh Excise (Amendment) Ordinance was brought up during the budget session of the State Assembly to create a corporation that will facilitate the sale of both foreign and Indian liquor through government outlets. Following that, the Raman Singh-led state government began setting up shops for sale of liquor in villages. In 2017-18, revenue is expected to cross Rs 4000 crores, a former excise minister said in media , soon after government opened outlets and started selling liquor there by itself.

The decision led to an outcry and a little over a year later, the state government was talking about implementing a stringent prohibition and was studying other states like Bihar which had done so. Criticising this flip flop policy of the state government over sale of liquor, Congress MLA Satyanarayan Sharma had said, "On one hand, the BJP government has decided to sell liquor through its own outlets and on the other, it is supporting anti-liquor campaign run by women groups".

The women voters were disgruntled with the BJP as the party failed to listen to their woes and adhere to its prohibition promise. Nischay Vajpayee of Sharab Bandi Sanyukt Morcha, a movement against liquor in the state, said women have shown their anger through the ballot. “The Constitution says that welfare government has to move towards liquor ban. Even masses want the liquor ban but the government’s decision to sell liquor by making a corporation was against the feeling of Constitution and people,” he said.

Increasing household costs

The third factor, which might have played a role in swaying the minds of the female voter-base, is the household issues. BJP’s much-touted Ujjwala scheme of rendering free LPG connection does not do much for the voters since LPG cylinder’s refill was increased to Rs 1,000. So, despite the government-sponsored distribution of gas stoves, the high refill rates made it difficult for poor and lower-middle-class families to use the gas stoves. The rising prices of daily usage commodities also affected the women of the households who had already suffered enough.

Voting Percentage: [table: //www.datawrapper.de/_/Dv8N5/ embed: <iframe src="//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Dv8N5/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" width="600" height="855"></iframe>]

The highest turnout of female voters (86.88 percent) was reported from Kharsia constituency this time where former IAS officer and award-winning bureaucrat OP Choudhary made his poll debut on a BJP ticket. Choudhary lost to the sitting Congress legislator Umesh Patel by a margin of 16,967 votes in the constituency. Dharamjaigarh (ST) constituency, with the second highest turnout of women voters(85.91 percent), also saw a Congress victory where Laljeet Singh Rathia defeated BJP’s Leenav Birju Rathia by a huge margin of 40,335 votes.

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